“Bondholders are not just statistics on your spreadsheets”- Senyo Hosi tells Finance Ministry

Convener of the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum, Senyo Hosi, has lashed out at the Finance Ministry, asserting that individual bondholders should not been seen as mere statistics by the Ministry.

According to him, the Finance Ministry should realise that they are dealing with “real human” beings who could have their entire life savings and livelihood taken away from them under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme being led by the Ministry.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, Mr Hosi averred government through the Finance Ministry must open a channel of negotiations between itself and individual bondholders, further asserting that, individual bondholders must be respected and deserve to be represented at the table of negotiations.

“For those at the Finance Ministry, most of you are cranking numbers and seeing it as statistics, but they are not, they are real human beings, real lives and not numbers.

“Bondholders are not statistics you see on your spreadsheets, we have suffered enough, Ghanaians have suffered enough,” he remarked.

According to 65-year-old pensioner, Larry Jiagge, he will contemplate ending his life if the government insists on including individual bonds in the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.

The old man said he has invested all his severance package into government bonds and will struggle to survive if his coupons are withheld.

According to him, his investment is his only source of income to get medication and feed himself.

The 65-year-old pensioner is not certain he will live to receive his matured investment if the government goes ahead with the programme.

“I am 65 and assuming they spread my bond for 15 years, I will be 80 years old then, and very few men in my family cross 80. Am I going to access my capital in my grave? Those taking this decision, are they thinking about pensioners, grown people who have to buy drugs? The unemployed who lost their jobs during the financial sector restructuring and whatever they have they invested in government securities? Have we committed any crime?” he asked.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum (IBF), has urged its members – direct and indirect bondholders – to reject and refrain from complying with the mandatory deadline imposed under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme [DDEP] by Government.

According to Convener of the Forum, Senyo Hosi, the DDEP in its present form, “irreversibly takes away the wealth and livelihoods of direct and indirect individual bondholders whose only crime has been to trust their government.”

In a statement issued by the IBF on January 11, 2023, the group noted that the DDEP threatens the medium- to long-term prospect and outlook of the domestic investment culture in the country.

The group has therefore advised government to open a channel of communication for immediate frank, transparent and sincere dialogue on the DDEP with the IBF with the view to seeking an effective resolution to the developing impasse and the fast-depleting confidence in the Ghanaian economy.

“We call on government to demonstrate the needed sensitivity to enable a constructive resolution in the best interest of all,” it added.

The group has also called on labour unions to join them in the fight for the preservation of hard-earned savings invested by the Ghanaian public which also includes their members, further adding “we also look forward to partnering likeminded groups and organizations to achieve our joint goals”.